Effective: July 22, 2026
1. Purpose
The Member Forum is a professional workspace for tribal leadership, economic development staff, and partner organizations to discuss policy, contracting, capital and finance, energy, health, and governance. Participation is a privilege of membership, not a right, and is governed by this Code and the Terms of Service (Section 5).
2. Participation Tiers
(a) Members with a confirmed email address may participate in general channels.
(b) Tribal-Verified members (identity verified through enrollment documentation) may additionally participate in working channels.
(c) Leadership channels are restricted by affiliation category.
Posting under another person’s identity, or claiming a title, office, or tribal affiliation you do not hold, is prohibited and is grounds for immediate removal and revocation of verified status.
3. Expected Conduct
- Treat every participant with professional respect. The nation-to-nation courtesy this Institute is built on extends member-to-member.
- Debate positions, not people.
- Keep discussion on-topic for the channel; use working groups for coordinated policy responses.
- Support factual claims with sources where possible. The platform’s validated-sourcing standard is the forum’s culture as well.
4. Prohibited Conduct
The following will result in content removal and account action:
- Racist, discriminatory, or hateful content of any kind — including content targeting any tribe or nation, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. Zero tolerance; severe violations bypass the enforcement ladder entirely.
- Harassment, threats, or personal attacks.
- Publishing another person’s private information.
- Spam, automated or bot activity, or unsolicited commercial promotion.
- Impersonation or misrepresentation of identity, title, or affiliation.
- Sharing culturally sensitive or sacred knowledge that a nation has not chosen to make public.
- Unlawful content, infringement of others’ intellectual property, or any violation of the Terms of Service.
- Evading moderation actions, including re-posting removed content or returning under a new account.
5. Discussion Boundaries
- Forum posts are individual member opinion. They are not official positions of any tribe, corporation, or of the Institute, and nothing posted here is legal, financial, or tax advice.
- The internal affairs of a particular nation — elections, enrollment matters, leadership disputes — are outside the scope of this forum and belong in that nation’s own processes.
- Working-group deliberations (draft coalition letters, position strategy, talking points) are member-confidential until published. Do not share them outside the forum.
6. Moderation and Enforcement
- Posts may be automatically held for review before appearing (keyword and spam screening).
- Moderators may remove or lock content and threads at their discretion.
- Standard enforcement ladder: warning, then temporary suspension, then permanent removal with revocation of verified status. Hate speech, threats, and impersonation skip the ladder.
- Every post carries a report control; reports route to the moderation queue.
- A moderation decision may be appealed once through the Contact page.
7. Relationship to the Terms
This Code is incorporated into the Terms of Service. A violation of this Code is a violation of the Terms. The Institute may update this Code; continued participation constitutes acceptance.